Indigenous African knowledge is relevant to solving local problems
The President of the Radford University College (RUC), Dr Paul Effah, has called on university researchers and students to not play down the use of indigenous African knowledge in seeking for solutions to problems on the continent.
Advertisement
Speaking at the second congregation of the university in Accra on Saturday, he noted that the use of indigenous knowledge had the potential of solving local problems thereby transforming the continent for the better.
Example
He cited an example of a Ghanaian Professor of Food Science, who was researching into the properties of kenkey, a local food made from corn dough.
According to the Professor, he took his students to a kenkey producer at Yamoransa in the Central Region and in the process of sharing some of their research results with the kenkey producers, one of the women asked the Professor and students what they would do if they had a 44-gallon container with kenkey on a traditional cooking stove using firewood and saw water leaking from the bottom of the barrel.
None of the answers given by the Professor and students satisfied the woman so she decided to give the answer, saying that with such a situation, there was the need to adjust the firewood in the stove to allow increased burning. Collect two or three handfuls of dried palm kernels and throw them into the fire. They will heat up and turn red hot; finally collect coarse table salt and throw it into the hot kernels. The salt would explode and in the process seal the leakage at the bottom of the barrel.
Metallurgy
Dr Effah said the woman who had never entered any classroom exhibited knowledge about metallurgy, physics and chemistry to the admiration and amazement of the Professor and the students.
“This is what I mean by indigenous knowledge which university researchers and students should take advantage of and make a difference in Africa,” the RUC President said.
At the ceremony, 93 students graduated, with 22 of them obtaining first class; 45, second class upper and 26, second class lower. They undertook courses in Business Administration, Fashion, Graphic Design, Information and Communications Technology and Applied Science.
Other Trending Stories
Dr Effah said education at the higher level in Africa, was “bleeding from a lack of commitment to both institutional and programme differentiation where institutions have clearly defined mandates and are made to keep to their mandates.”
Entrepreneurs
The Executive Chairman of the RUC, Nana Dwomoah Sarpong, said the university college sought to, among other things, produce entrepreneurs who would create jobs for Ghanaians.
In addition, he said the “RUC seeks to produce business leaders in industry who are equipped to address the current challenges facing Ghana’s industries.”
“During the relatively short period that Radford has been in existence, it has demonstrated that a university can collaborate with industry for the mutual benefit of both the institution and the industry.”
Opportunities
The Executive Director of Ecobank, Ghana, Mr George Asante, told the graduands that they were moving into a world full of opportunities, and that they should take advantage of those opportunities since they would determine their success or otherwise.
He said the degrees they had acquired would not give them competitive advantage over others unless they harnessed their knowledge, stand out and be counted.
The Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Prof. Samuel Odai, pledged the readiness of the university to stand by the RUC, adding that “let’s do our best to stay within the rules of the game”.